By Boris Ladwig, The Republic

bladwig@therepublic.com

  Cummins Inc. and Chrysler Group LLC have extended their Ram partnership, preserving 600 jobs in Columbus.

   The Columbus MidRange Engine Plant on Road 450S near Walesboro is the exclusive supplier of diesel engines for the Ram. 

   Cummins and Chrysler agreed to a "multiyear extension" of the arrangement. The companies declined to provide specifics. 

   "The engine will continue to be made at Walesboro," said Mark Land, executive director of corporate communications. 

   "That's obviously good news." 

   Corey Carr, president of Columbus Economic Development Board, said quality and innovation have given Cummins an edge over competitors.

   "I'm pleased for Cummins," Carr said, "but it doesn't surprise me one bit." 

   Carr said the partnership has been extremely profitable for Chrysler. 

   "It's 600 jobs that we don't have to worry about for a while," he said. 

   The contract extension comes after a challenging year that involved Chrysler's bankruptcy and a temporary shutdown of the Walesboro plant. 

   Carr said he understood the frustration that arose over local cutbacks and shutdowns, but he said the contract extension and the fourth-quarter record performance, which was announced Tuesday, showed that "Cummins is a well-managed company that takes the right action to be competitive." 

   The extension also snuffed speculation that Chrysler's new owner, Fiat, would replace the Cummins engine with one of Fiat's diesel engines. 

   Last year, Stark's Truck & Off-Highway Ledger, for example, citing a Fiat source, said Fiat was considering replacing the Cummins engine with a product from Fiat subsidiary Iveco. 

   CMEP employs about 600. The plant is used almost exclusively for the Ram product. 

   "The Chrysler business continues to be a key part of our MidRange engine business," said Dave Crompton, vice president and general manager of the Midrange Engine Business. 

   Mark Foster, chief investment officer of Columbus-based Kirr, Marbach & Co. said the extension shows that Cummins has a leg up on the competition. 

   "The key here is that the Cummins product is really very superior," Foster said. 

   Eighty percent of all Ram Heavy-Duty trucks are bought with a Cummins engine, Cummins said.
   "And they do this while meeting tough emissions standards," Foster said. "Not all their competitors can say that. 

   "This is another good step to solidifying an already strong relationship and should be helpful to the local community as production continues to rebound from the tough 2009 period," Foster said.
Partnership continues 

   Cummins said that it has produced more than 1.7 million turbo diesel engines for the Ram since 1989. 

   The 6.7-liter Cummins Turbo Diesel is an option on the Ram 2500 and 3500. A 2500 model with a Cummins engine starts at about $35,000, about $6,500 more than the same model with a 5.7-liter V8 HEMI. 

   The Cummins-powered Ram Heavy Duty recently was named Motor Trend's 2010 Truck of the Year. 

   The Cummins-Chrysler partnership dates to 1989, and every few years, the companies have extended their cooperation. In 2003, for example, the partners also announced a "multiyear extension" of an agreement that was to run through 2007. 

   In the first year of the partnership, the companies projected that they would sell about 5,000 engines - but they sold 20,000 in the first year. 

   Since that a 5.9-liter engine, Cummins has increased the horsepower by 118 percent and torque by 86 percent while lowering exhaust emissions by 90 percent. 

   The iconic Cummins-powered Ram has attracted a loyal following and has attained cult status among many of its owners. 

   The Turbo Diesel Register sends out roughly 17,000 quarterly magazines about anything related to the Cummins-powered Ram and organizes rallies at which owners and enthusiasts show off their vehicles and swap stories. 

   A project to extend the Cummins-Chrysler partnership to the Ram 1500 model had been delayed due to the recession and Chrysler's bankruptcy. 

   Cummins in 2006 had announced that by the end of the decade it would produce a new light-duty diesel engine for DaimlerChrysler at Columbus Engine Plant, investing $250 million and creating 600 to 800 jobs. 

   Chrysler in June canceled the LDD contract, though Cummins officials have said that the move was expected and merely delayed the project.

   Cummins shares on Wednesday rose 1.47 percent, closing at $51.84. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.26 percent.